Fake Ad and I Spy

Dokebi Mural

“The artist Dokebi (aka Chris Sammons) used a reference to dokkaebi, a creature from Korean mythology for the mural,” says Barb Tester.

Read More

West Michigan Office Space

“Well, you almost had me this month,” wrote Stacy Mero. “I searched and searched, with no luck finding an ad that caught my attention as fake, and no clear mention of the past winner’s name. And then, just as I was about to give up, I spotted it: ‘Varnum,’ barely visible on the building in the ad on page 72 for waterfront office space in west Michigan. Very well done!”

Read More

Quartet Sculpture

“‘Quartet’ by Jens Zorn,” writes Amy Barnett, was “donated in 2017 by the FWC (Faculty Women’s Club of the University of Michigan—now going by the initials since club is open to all genders).” Designed by physics prof Jens Zorn, says Barb Tester, it was fabricated “by the very skilled technician Joshua Blackmon of the university’s Sheet Metal Shop.”

Read More

CostU-M

“I’m curious if you always start with last month’s winner’s name and build an ad around that,” mused Kevin Berasley, “or if sometimes you just have a great idea for an ad and then figure out how to fit the name into it.”

Read More

Entrance to Circ and Root

“The ‘Vaulted Tunnels’ refers to what used to be The Cavern Club,” writes Shannon Kohlitz, referencing the clue. “I think it’s called something different now but I’m not cool enough to know anymore lol,” she remarks.

Read More

First Bank of the Colonies

Of all the things people exaggerate—the size of the fish they caught, the size of their bank account, the size of their … let’s move on—laughter might be the biggest one. We say “LOL” when something is amusing. We send an emoji of someone laughing so hard tears stream down its face every time something tickles our funny bone. Or we say we “died laughing” when that is demonstrably false. 

Read More

Need a Fourth?

“I thought the idea of ‘need a fourth’ was a great one, and I decided to check out the website, only to find it isn’t a registered domain name!!” Stacy Mero writes. “Very sneaky, but now I’m left disappointed not to have somewhere to find euchre games.”

Read More

Maynard Street Mural

“So sad!” says Amy Saalberg about March’s I Spy photo, which Marilyn Knepp identifies as “the site of the recent fire that demolished Madras Masala (empty buffet now, for sure) and the Vape Store.”

Read More

Union Rec

“This is a picture of a Fingerle Lumber Co building that has been ‘reimagined’ as the Union Rec restaurant,” writes David Karl.

Read More

Everything in Moderation Life Coaching

We received only eighty-three entries correctly identifying the Fake Ad for Everything in Moderation Life Coaching on page 80 of the February Observer. That might be because of where it was placed: hidden among the service ads on a page after the Back Page (not sure how that’s even possible).

Read More

Academic Trivia Night

There’s something wonderful about people in Ann Arbor wanting to share everything they know—unless you’re at a cocktail party, of course. Our contest is no cocktail party.

Read More

The Engine House

“The picture in the January issue is part of the old fire house,” writes first-time entrant Amy Saalberg. Also known as the Engine House, says Justine Geidosch, it “is now part of the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum.” 

Read More

Omar’s Kebabs

Not many people know this, but the Fake Ad Czar’s single favorite line ever on Saturday Night Live was when Kate McKinnon, portraying an Australian actress playing a death bed scene, was asked if she had any last words. In a terribly exaggerated, inaccurate Australian accent, McKinnon responds, “Kangaroo, I guess.”

Read More

313 S. State Doorway

“Those flowers (I always think of them as asparagus) flanked the door next to a long gone and lamented bookshop on State St.,” says Spencer Thomas. “I really like that doorway design,” writes David Karl, adding that it always makes him smile remembering the late Karl Pohrt’s “amazing” Shaman Drum Bookshop.

Read More

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Nightspots